Saras has joined Pannathinaikos. Varejao wants to re-join Barcelona and Kirilenko has said he might be interested in playing in Europe.
Are players who thought the NBA was the be all and end all of basketball realising that maybe there are other options?or are european teams like CSKA and Pannathinaikos showing that they have the financial clout to compete with NBA salaries?
What do you think?
If Kirilenko joins CSKA,wow! Papaloukas,Zisis,Savrasenko,Sisauskas,Langdon,Hold en etc they will have a great team.
Pannathinaikos, Jasikevicius,vujanic,Diamantidis,Batiste,Ntikoudis etc.
2 great teams.repeat of last year's great final for this years euroleague?

no questions about it many players can see that you dont need to sit on an nba bench. euroleague has great quality basketball. it makes me mad that players from europe that have such good talent and they waste in on an nba bench. my prediction is panathinaikos winning it again

no questions about it many players can see that you dont need to sit on an nba bench. euroleague has great quality basketball. it makes me mad that players from europe that have such good talent and they waste in on an nba bench. my prediction is panathinaikos winning it again

apparently the latest rumour now is that Olympiakos are willing to pay Chris Webber 12million dollars a year.So we could see another NBA star going to Greece.Dominique Wilkins went there in 96 (I think) to Pannathinaikos.
Fred Roberts and Rony Seikaly failed miserably at Barcelona.This last two players no where near to Star status though.

no questions about it many players can see that you dont need to sit on an nba bench. euroleague has great quality basketball. it makes me mad that players from europe that have such good talent and they waste in on an nba bench. my prediction is panathinaikos winning it again

That's fully true. There is a lot of talent being wasted in some NBA teams. Coming back to Europe is not considered a failure since european teams have increased their BB level a lot, and many of them could beat several NBA teams. I also bet for panathinaikos this year again...

apparently the latest rumour now is that Olympiakos are willing to pay Chris Webber 12million dollars a year.So we could see another NBA star going to Greece.Dominique Wilkins went there in 96 (I think) to Pannathinaikos.
Fred Roberts and Rony Seikaly failed miserably at Barcelona.This last two players no where near to Star status though.

I think Webber in Olympiakos would be just a bussiness thing, like Wilkins was for Panathinaikos. Surely he would improve the team performance, but the roster is quite far from Panathinaikos or CSKA to be a real contender for the Greek title or the Euroleague...

well webber is still a good player he just has a bad attitude. if we see all these moves happening im expecting a lot more following. americans need to realize that basketball is more than playing for money. and europe should keep their talent, not look for it on an nba scrub level

well webber is still a good player he just has a bad attitude. if we see all these moves happening im expecting a lot more following. americans need to realize that basketball is more than playing for money.

Yeah, that is the reason why I said Webber in Europe would be just business, his attitude. Anyway, I've read he has rejected that proposal and would probably stay with the Pistons.

Quote:

Originally Posted by simasu01

and europe should keep their talent, not look for it on an nba scrub level

Absolutely, but you know, playing with or against people like Kobe, Melo, Dirk, Nash... every night is something that every young and talented guy here in Europe would like to do. And there are few teams with money to keep them here for a long time.

I would love to see european players establish themselves in Europe before they leave to the NBA,infact I'd like them to stay,but that is unrealistic.Players like Milicic,Gasol,Sergio Rodriguez,Nowitzki,etc they all left without really establishing themselves in Europe.Gasol was great for Barca for 1 and a half seasons,I'd like to have seen him try to win the euroleague before leaving.
On another note,its funny how all the NBA teams currently on tour in Europe have avoided playing against CSKA and Pannathinaikos who are by far the two strongest teams in Europe.I reckon they should always play against the best two teams.

I would love to see european players establish themselves in Europe before they leave to the NBA,infact I'd like them to stay,but that is unrealistic.Players like Milicic,Gasol,Sergio Rodriguez,Nowitzki,etc they all left without really establishing themselves in Europe.Gasol was great for Barca for 1 and a half seasons,I'd like to have seen him try to win the euroleague before leaving.

That would be fantastic for european fans, but not many established players in Europe have had a successful career later on in the NBA. The best example is Jasikevicius.

Quote:

Originally Posted by la bomba

On another note,its funny how all the NBA teams currently on tour in Europe have avoided playing against CSKA and Pannathinaikos who are by far the two strongest teams in Europe.I reckon they should always play against the best two teams.

I would love to see the best teams in the NBA coming, instead of three of the worst teams of last season. But this is just bussiness, not a competition Europe vs NBA.

[quote=berraco]That would be fantastic for european fans, but not many established players in Europe have had a successful career later on in the NBA. The best example is Jasikevicius.

Jasikevicius,Spanoulis,Macijauskas,I suspect Navarro this year and most famously Petrovic when he was in Portland have not had the right coaches who knew how to play them.Look at Walter Hermann he did not feature for the Bobcats until injuries forced the coach to play him more minutes,I don't know how many stand out perfomances he had towards the end of the season.Loads of 20+ points perfomances.
When only the best of europe used to go to the NBA and not just anyone,established players did do well.Sabonis aged 31 and carrying numerous injuries was tremendous,Kukoc and Radja were young but had made a name for themselves in europe winning consecutive euroleagues.Ginobili,Herman,Nocionni,Oberto and probably Scola this year although all Argentinians have made their names in Europe.Plus Garbajosa and Calderon both well established players in europe too.

i would love to see guys staying. how would euroleague look with Dirk, Gasol, Peja, Manu Ginobili, who did play in Italy, Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Jose Calderon, Jorge Garbajosa, Andrea Bargnani, and so many good players. If that actually happened they should have an All Star game of Europe vs America. I would put my money on Europe, not many squads could compete with them.

i would love to see guys staying. how would euroleague look with Dirk, Gasol, Peja, Manu Ginobili, who did play in Italy, Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Jose Calderon, Jorge Garbajosa, Andrea Bargnani, and so many good players. If that actually happened they should have an All Star game of Europe vs America. I would put my money on Europe, not many squads could compete with them.

We need more players like Bodiroga and Papaloukas probably the best european players in the last 20 years not to play in the NBA.
Vujcic and Smodis are also world class.
I say in the last 20 years because prior to that European players going to the NBA was not the norm.Back then in the late 80s .
We had Epi,Oscar Schmidt,Gallis,Yannakis,Fernando Martin(was in NBA for 1 yr),Kurtinaitis,chomicious,riva,gentile,jimenez,be rkovic,fasoulas,solozabal,meneghin,
Tarakanov etc . The equivalent of these players today would be in the NBA now.

yeah also siskauskas and stombergas and diamantidis. i wouldnt count spanoulis as an nba player either just like macijauskas. oscar schmidt was brazillian but still played in europe so i guess he would be like ginobili.

I think Webber in Olympiakos would be just a bussiness thing, like Wilkins was for Panathinaikos.

Wilkins was not a business thing for Panathinaikos. He was much needed to lead Panathinaikos to win their 1st ever Euroleague title. Plus major clubs like Panathinaikos actually lose (a lot of) money every season. Not much of business things if you ask me.